


The Locket

by CelestialHeavens1



Series: Men Of SHIELD Week 2013 [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Empathy, F/M, Men of SHIELD Week, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2014-04-23
Packaged: 2018-01-02 14:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1057632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CelestialHeavens1/pseuds/CelestialHeavens1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the Men of SHIELD prompt "Old Fashioned." An extended Five times Coulson almost told Skye that he is her father and one time he did with pre-SkyeWard. Title comes from the necklace Skye's wearing in the pilot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. On his Birthday

 

Sunday: Old Fashioned

Phil Coulson

On his Birthday:

He liked old-fashioned things, something that was no secret. Old fashioned watches, old-fashioned comic books, old-fashioned knickknacks. Each piece held some sort of sentimental value to it.

So it was no surprise what people would give him for his birthday. There was a vintage Captain America comic from Maria, a set of Captain America trading cards from Fury, a cake from the team, a bottle of vintage whiskey from May, and the oddest of the lot, an old locket that looked more like a family heirloom than the kind of thing you give as a gift. He different, recognizing it immediately. It was from the cellist he'd been dating before he'd died, Theresa Siegal.

A knock came from the other side of the closed door and he jumped, hiding the locket as Skye walked in without waiting for an answer. "Hey AC, happy birthday."

"You said that earlier."

"Yeah, but FitzSimmons are breaking out Pin the Tail on the Donkey and if you can hide from your own birthday party in here, why can't I?" He chuckled at her logic. In his distraction, he failed to notice the locket slide onto the desk with a small clink. But Skye did. "Oh! Pretty!" She snatched it from where it had fallen, picking it up. "It's so old-fashioned looking." She struggled with the clasp for a second, but opened it to see a picture of a dark-haired woman and a baby in one side and a lighter haired woman on the other. She frowned and he looked at her.

"What is it?"

"Where did you get this?" He looked at her, confused.

"It was a present." She pulled a necklace out from under the hem of her shirt, old-fashioned, like the one opened in her hands, popping it open. He glanced at the pictures, a perfect match. Her hand came over her mouth and her posture reminded him of when he told her what he had found of the redacted file.

"Why is it the same?" Her voice sounded stunned, breaking slightly at the end. He look the locket in her hands back, looking at the images, but he shook his head.

"I don't know." He gave her a weak smile, undoing the clasp on it. "Why don't you hold on to it for now?" She nodded and allowed him to snap it shut around her neck. As she left, he sighed. He knew exactly what game Tessa was playing. The locket was her kind of way of saying that she knew he was alive and well and with his daughter, her niece. He'd be damned if he let her get the last word.


	2. Over Ice Cream and Movies

Over Ice Cream and Classic (Shot 'em Up) Movies:

May needs to get laid. That's what she had told Ward and she regretted it immediately. She could feel it, the guilt, the pleasure, all of it coming off him in waves, his back still turned to her.

It was overwhelming, nearly crippling, but she kept talking, trying to cover up the physical sickness that she was beginning to feel at the thought of him and May, together. She didn't want to show him how affected she was by the thought of him sleeping with anything. They weren't together. She had no real right to be jealous or betrayed or any of the things she felt. However, stating this fact over and over to herself did not change how she was feeling. So for the moment, she forced her emotions- and everyone else's- down into a place where she didn't feel them anymore, pretending to be the air headed hacker they found in L.A. She had even sat down with May in the cockpit, just to make sure what she felt was real, and it was.

It was only later when she was alone that she allowed herself to let the myriad of emotions overwhelm her until the tears flowed down her cheeks. She could cry noiselessly, because foster homes are a lot like prison. If you showed weakness, you'd get eaten by the wolves. She figured that on a plane full of spies, the same probably applied.

After that, she avoided touching anything of Ward's. The residual emotions that would flood into her from his things, the memories, would make her ill. When she did make the mistake of touching his shirt on her turn to do laundry, the shirt he'd worn the night he slept with May, she actually did vomit at the overload of emotions she felt from it.

"Skye, are you alright?" Simmons asked her when she came in, the English girl's eyes full of concern. She pulled herself away from the toilet, away from the scientists, and felt a jab of pain from the other girl as she did. "I-I can leave, if you want?"

"NO!" she yelled a little too loud and she winced as her headache only grew. "Please. I need-" She didn't know what she needed. She needed to get away from everyone. She didn't want to feel their pity. She looked back to Simmons, but the other girl had disappeared.

The bathroom door clanged open again a few minutes later, the scientist entering carrying crackers, a glass of water, and some ibuprofen. When she had finished all three, Simmons helped her up, carefully, almost like she knew the dark-haired girl was one wrong move away from breaking completely. Together they walked to her room and Skye climbed into the bed, pulling her shoes off.

"Why don't you tell me what happened? Did you eat anything unusual or -?"

"I feel everything." The words were numb, hallow, and once they were out, Skye couldn't stop talking. "I feel you pitying me, but you're also curious about it, and Fitz is wondering what happened to you. Coulson's more or less brainwashed about Tahiti and May and Ward had sex in Ireland."

"Oh." Simmons eyes widened. "Oh! Oh! You're empathic, aren't you?"

"Shh!" Skye hushed her, not wanting anyone else to know.

"Right, sorry. So are you?"

Skye reclined in the bed, "Yeah, I am."

A fury of emotions went through Simmons, from confusion, past curiosity, and finally settling on understanding. "Alright. Get some rest. You were throwing up, so you'll probably be dizzy in a little while from the headache and the nausea." The dark-haired girl groaned. She already was dizzy. She lay down, letting her eyes falling shut.

* * *

Skye woke up the next morning to the feeling of intense anger and annoyance outside her door from Simmons and frustration from Ward, and while she couldn't quite hear what they were saying, she had a general idea. The door opened and closed and the scientist huffed at the inconvenience of it all. "The nerve of him… she's sick. What part of 'she's sick' didn't seem to penetrate that thick skull of his?" Jemma was muttering angrily under her breath. Skye opened her eyes and looked at her.

"You don't have to take care of me. I'll be fine." The scientist smiled at her, her emotions calming instantly.

"Nonsense, sweetie. It's no bother. You're sick."

"Just a little nauseous," she argued, "I've taken care of myself through worse."

Jemma shook her head and sat down on the bed. "You're lovesick. You might be able to take care of yourself, but you shouldn't have to." She grinned. "Now, as the only one on this plane with a medical degree, I am prescribing you one pint of ice cream to share, chocolate, and sappy romance movies?"

Skye managed a weak laugh, sitting up in the bed as the other girl joined her with two spoons and the promised ice cream and they turned on the classic movie channel, which was showing the aforementioned sappy romance movies.

At some point during the day, Coulson and Fitz had joined them with their own cartons of ice cream and "My Fair Lady" turned into "Die Hard." Eliza's graceful umbrella and long white dress turned into McClane's sleek Glock and sweaty wife-beater. Hours passed and she'd somehow forgotten the reason for her sickness. She dosed asleep as the other three filed out.

* * *

"She'll be fine," Jemma reassured Coulson later that night. "Her body's just a little worn down. She needs to rest and relax. Give her a day or two and she should be fine."

"Good, because if not, we're landing at a SHIELD hospital and letting them check her out." Confusion flickered over the scientist's face. "It's a liability to have someone be seriously sick and deny them medical treatment," he explained and she seemed to buy it, so he left, walked into his office, and shut the door.

"How long have you known she's yours?" a voice asked as he sat down. He didn't jump. Melinda May's appearing act didn't scare him anymore.

"How long have you?"

"Since that first day when I looked at her and saw Katharina Siegel." May sat down. "She has you're eyes though."

The woman looked at the papers she'd pulled onto Coulson's desk, the file of information on Skye's mother. "I didn't even know I had a daughter until that day we picked her up." He poured himself a drink. "Rina was always talking about the two of us going off grid, living where no one'd find us. It always seemed like a fantasy. I didn't know she was in danger until they found her body. She disappeared that last year and I just assumed that she had done it, but-"

"Obviously she didn't hide well enough." May shifted in the chairs. "I noticed she's wearing Katharina's necklace."

Coulson didn't answer her. It got very quiet in the office very quickly, then he started talking again, rushed.

"Half of me says I should have left in that van, left her to live her life. Whatever reason Rina had for giving her up, for hiding her for me, I want to respect that. But at the same time, how can I let her go again? She was all alone and if she got sick like she is now and she was on her own, I don't know what I'll do if I lose her, Melinda."

"You'll lose her if you don't tell her. She spent her whole life searching for answers, searching for you. There's even an application to SHIELD in her name. She's been looking for a long time."

"I know. I just can't yet."

"She's going to hate you for not telling her."

He looked saddened by this and she stood. "I know." The words came from a broken man, an unprepared father, a boyfriend who never received closure for his girlfriend's murder twenty-four years ago. She knew what he needed before he did and disappeared.

* * *

Skye woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of her bunk door closing. Not feeling or seeing anyone around, she almost shrugged it off. But then she saw the flowers.

They were gorgeous, a mixed arrangement obvious picked out with some care. There were light purple and yellow roses, yellow tulips, purple violets, all smelling beautiful. She smiled at them, stroking one's delicate petal and receiving a feeling of Ward's emotional signature. Her hand fell. She was tempted to throw them out in the hallway as a sudden flare of anger came over her. She wanted to rip out every petal in them and- and do something violent and painful. She wanted to put the vase through his head and watch in satisfaction as he bled, make him hurt as much as she did.

The anger was gone as quick as it came. It was obvious he cared about her, and while he might not feel the same way that she did, she'd probably destroy any friendship between them if she put them out in the hallway. They were her favorites, something she was sure she hadn't told him, so he had to have gone through some trouble to find out the information. And he had gone to great lengths to avoid her new bodyguard, also known as Jemma Simmons, and put the flowers here, to try to cheer her up, make her feel better, or whatever his reason was.

She stifled her cries with her hand, angry and hurt by his gesture. She was sure he hadn't meant to put her in pain like that, but each reminder of him was like rubbing salt in her wounds. It wasn't just her pride that had been hurt by him blatantly rejecting her offer to listen, though it was just as chafed as the rest of her was. He'd chosen May over her, which showed her where he placed her in the grand scheme of things. He'd probably put the flowers in here then snuck over to the great Melinda May's bunk for some  _quality time._  While she understood why May was the way she was and why people thought she was so great, she didn't understand why he couldn't just straight out tell her he didn't want to talk. Perhaps that was the biggest slap in the fact of them all.

So Skye took the flowers and opened the closet door, flinching the whole way, and placed them on the floor where she wouldn't have to look at them. She made sure she locked her door before she went back to bed this time. She could deal with them in the morning.

* * *

When she work up in the morning, she discovered that the closet door had done little to slow the spread of the flower's scent in her room. The sleep had allowed her to calm down and her headache was nearly gone. She realized he, Ward, had just been trying to show he cared. She could feel him outside her locked door, his worry overwhelming her. She sat down with her back to the wall, unknowably putting her head next to his on the other side of the solid walls, waiting… wondering…

Skye jumped up with a sudden determination, lifted the vase as quietly as she could and replaced it on the nightstand where he'd placed it hours earlier. Then she opened the door.

He was as much of a mess as she was and she wondered how she'd missed that he had been there last night, outside her door, keeping vigil over her without her knowledge. He stood quickly and she never thought she'd see the day when her S.O. would be so uncoordinated. "I was just-"

"Sleeping against my wall?" Ward opened his mouth to protest, but closed it, as if realizing there was no use. "I got your flowers. They're lovely. Thank you."

A smile and look of relief flickered over his features and she smiled back at him, her anger at him from the previous night mostly dissipated by now. "I'm glad you liked them." He rubbed the back of his neck, a little awkwardly, and it was adorable. "I'm, um, glad you're feeling better."

"Thanks."

"You should get some more rest. You're still a little pale."

"And you look like you slept for five minutes," she replied, taking in his appearance a little more completely.

"I probably did." He sighed, dropping his hand down. "I'm just going to head off now."

"Sleep tight," she replied as he walked away, feeling slightly better. For a second, he glanced back at her, their eyes meetings, and she felt it, whatever it was. Then he was gone and she knew they'd be alright.


	3. During Training with May and Ward

During Training with May and Ward:

It hurt to look at his daughter. He loved her, but she looked so much like her mother that it's downright painful. Everything about her just screamed out "Rina", from her smile to her laugh, right down to the way she moved. When Skye landed the plane for the first time, he cried on the phone with Tessa for nearly an hour.

She's beautiful. He wished he had known before he saw her in that van. Why had Rina never told him? Was she trying to protect their daughter and if she was, from who?

He walked in on her training with Ward once. She was focused and it was the exact same look her mother used to get when he used to train her. Her S.O. corrected her hand position on the bag and he could see the look in the man's eyes, staring at his daughter in the same way he used to stare at Rina. He locked himself in his office for the rest of the evening with a bottle of scotch because he remembered how that relationship progressed.

"She's definitely Katharina's daughter." May sat down on the other side of his desk, looking at him. "She needs to be told the truth. She'll find out eventually. It's better to do it on your terms than for her to find out by mistake." Words of wisdom from May, of course, the voice of wisdom personified. It was the same tune she'd been singing for the past few weeks when she'd realized the truth.

"I need to wait for the right time."

The Calvary sighed loudly and stood up. "Just know that she can do a lot worse than Agent Ward. He adores her, whether he realizes it or not."

With that, she left the room, leaving him with his glass of scotch and a feeling of dread.

* * *

May found Skye in the copilot's seat, not an unusual place for the girl to be these days. She looked up at the older woman as she came in and Melinda almost wondered if she knew what her and Coulson had been talking about in his office. If she did, Skye didn't say anything, though Melinda found the girl didn't say much when she sat up in the cockpit. A familiar wave of peace flooded over her as she sat down and she allowed herself to smile at the girl. It was only when Skye left a few hours later that the feeling disappeared.

* * *

Coulson found Skye on a tablet in the common room, curled up in one of the oversized armchairs. "How's your training going with May? She's said you're improving."

She glanced up and smiled at him. "It's good, AC. She and Ward are going to show me how to do like a bunch of different self defense moves tomorrow. And she says some day, I might be able to land the plan solo."

"Good. So you still want to be an agent?"

Skye nodded, looking up at him. "Yeah. It feels right." She didn't add in that it only began to feel that way after she'd found the redacted file, after she came up with the idea that maybe her parents were also SHIELD agents and maybe she'd find them. Maybe they'd want her. She changed the subject. "I applied before, but apparently you have to have a last name for that kind of thing."

He sat in the one across from her. "I'm surprised you didn't just give yourself one."

She shrugged, setting the tablet down on the table. "It wouldn't have been real. Besides, when everyone has the last name of Smith or Doe, you don't really want to take that with you." The dark-haired girl smiled at him. "Is something on your mind, AC? You seem distracted."

Coulson shook his head and stood. "No, just some paperwork I have to fill out."

He walked off, not noticing Skye staring at him confused, trying to figure out why he'd tell her such a blatant lie.

* * *

"Alright, May's going to attack you and you're going to fight her off," Grant told Skye as he positioned her hands by her side. "If you need to stop at any time-"

"Just say 'pickles.' I've got it." She eyed him and muttered under her breath, "It feels more like some kinky sex game than a fight."

May snickered from behind them, her face expressionless. "Be serious, Skye," Grant chastised her.

"Well, really, 'pickles?'"

He ignored her comment, walking behind her to the bench to remove his shoes and join the two women on the mat. "Close your eyes."

"Then how am I supposed to see?" Skye demanded.

"You've got to feel. You're not always going to be in condition where you can see. Your enemies might use any technique that they can to disorient you, including take away your sight." He leaned in close to her ear from behind, whispering in her ear, "You're lucky. My S.O. blindfolded me and made me wear earplugs." Skye shuttered at the thought of being both blind and deaf to have to learn how to fight. With a reluctant sigh, she shut her eyes.

It was disorienting; Ward was right. She couldn't see anything and May didn't have loud footsteps normally, but unlike any normal mat, which would sink under your weight, it didn't shift at all to let her know where May was. She breathed in, letting the woman's emotional signature tell her where she were. May's hand came on her shoulder, the other hand twisting her arm behind her back and she fought to keep her eyes shut. Skye knocked her head back, clipping the older woman's chin and taking satisfaction as she heard May breath in hard. She jerked her elbow back, letting it connect with the soft part of the Calvary's torso, right under the ribs. May let out a grunt of pain but still didn't release her.

 _Okay,_  Skye thought,  _new strategy._

She kicked, catching one of May's legs behind the knee, and pulled it forward until the woman buckled. Once down, she thrusted her elbow back again and May dropped Skye's arm to defend her face, allowing her to get away for a second, but it wasn't over. The older woman grabbed Skye's ankle, pulling her to the ground face down. She turned to her side before May could attack her, bringing her legs in close to defend herself. She could sense the woman move closer, waiting until she was close enough to kick her in the shins. May landed on top of her and Skye flattened herself before pushing her hips up, twisting, and sending May to the floor below her.

She opened her eyes as she felt her S.O. come closer and saw him offering her his hand. Skye took it and allowed him to pull her up. "That was much better than last week." His hand slid to the small of her back, guiding her over to the water bottles and didn't drop until it became obvious that he wasn't touching her to guide her.

She pretended to clean her ears. "I'm sorry, was that a compliment?"

"It was a comment. An observation."

"It was a kind comment." Ward smiled and shook his head, having learned that it was better not to argue this point with her.

"Whatever you say, Skye. Whatever you say." She laughed as May stood up, feeling lighter than she had since she'd found out that her S.O. and the pilot had slept together.

Unbeknownst to them, Coulson was watching from the safety of his office. His eyes narrowed as he watched Ward's hand stay on Skye's back for far too long. As if sensing his eyes, May turned to the camera and glared at him, as if to say 'stop watching and tell her or I'll tell her myself.' He shut off the video feed after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone has any ideas they'd like to see of times Coulson almost tells her, feel free to tell me.


	4. When he Has a Nightmare:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based off of Wolf's Edge's request "How about one where Skye catches Coulson having a nightmare?" It's kind of short, but I felt like any more would have gone into stuff for the next chapter.
> 
> To RuffyandCandy2: Yes, this is going to be romance between Ward and Skye... eventually. I just don't feel like where they're at right now that they could be in a good relationship, so all the messy stuff kind of needs to get out of the way first, so right now it is pre-SkyeWard, but that will change. I promise.

 

When he Has a Nightmare:

Skye had nightmares, at least once a week, Ward learned as he got closer to his rookie. Sometimes she'd scream out, sometimes she'd just thrash in the sheets or cry softly, but he made it a habit of checking on her at some point in the night, to make sure she was okay. Some nights he'd even sit with her to make sure she was okay.

However, tonight was different. Ward was heavy drugged after today's mission, which had quickly gone south after the bad guy had been tipped off. He had a near miss with a bullet, his right arms was in a sling, and one of his broken ribs almost became his punctured lung, so when she woke herself up in a cold sweat, he wasn't there.

Skye woke in a panic, disoriented and unsure of where she was. She'd never been to the island in her dream, nor did she ever want to. There were robots with laser eyes on it, attacking everyone and destroying anything in their way. Despite the insanity of the dream, she couldn't keep her hands steady and couldn't get her heart to slow back to a normal rate. After almost an hour of not being able to calm back down, to fall back to sleep, she got up, pulling on a tee shirt and some booties and started walking around the plane. When she found herself outside Coulson's office, she could hear him thrashing around and his emotions were everywhere. Frowning, she rapped quietly on the door.

"A.C. You okay?" He didn't respond, but the panic she felt from him increased. Skye opened the door frantically, almost afraid he might be getting attacked by something, like one of FitzSimmons' drones or maybe May. He was tossing and turning restlessly, repeating over and over, "It's a magical place. It's a magical place."

She shook him hard, "A.C. wake up!" He groaned, "You're dreaming. Wake up!" He jumped at her, grabbing at her. "Hey, easy!"

"Skye? What are you doing in my room?"

"I was passing by. You were having a nightmare." She flopped down beside his bed into a chair. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," he shook his head, "No, I'm okay."

She shrugged. "How about some hot tea then? I was going to go make some anyways."

"That might work," he groaned, swinging his legs around to the side of the bed to stand up, following her to the kitchen. Skye had started gathering the supplies to make tea and there was a pot of water on the stove. "What happened to the kettle?"

"I don't feel like waking everyone on the plane up," she said, looking back at him. "But if you want to wake up May and Ward, be my guest. It's four in the morning. I'd rather not piss off the people who sleep with guns under their pillows."

Coulson shrugged, "Anything I can do?"

"There's a tin of sesame seed cookies in the back of the lower right cabinet." He complied, getting the tin out. The water started bubbling, so Skye split the water between two mugs, spilling half into one and the other half into the other. Then she pulled out a bottle of brandy, pouring a generous amount in each glass. He raised his eyebrow. "I had a foster mom who used to do this for me when I had nightmares. She owned an Italian bakery and we lived over it and I'd get to help make stuff on the weekends or after school." She glanced off. "She got killed in a car crash. I found out after she was planning to adopt me."

"I'm sorry, Skye."

She didn't reply to that, just kept quiet and continued to sip her spiked tea. He felt even worse now than he did before from keeping the truth from her. Deciding he could tell her something and not out himself, he breathed in and spoke.

"I found out some more about the agent that brought you to the orphanage. She was your mother." Not that he hadn't known that the whole time, but maybe a crumb or two every so often would keep her from becoming itchy for information and trying to hack them again.

Skye set her mug down suddenly, looking up at him with wide eyes and unshed tears. "What?" Coulson noticed her hand was playing with the lockets around her neck, both on a single chain now.

"We were also able to locate her."

"Where is she? Where's she been all this time?" He hesitated. He'd never had to break the news to anyone that their loved one was dead. Even Tessa had known by the time he got to her.

"She's dead, Skye. She was shot a little under a day after she'd dropped you at the orphanage. I'm really sorry."

She was barely holding herself together, it was clear. "I-I want to see her." 

"We'll head that way." She nodded, not even able to touch the rest of her tea or cookies as she left the room. Coulson closed his eyes in pain. "Well that could have gone better," he muttered quietly to himself.

Skye opened the door to Ward's bunk, slipping inside. He was awake, staring at the ceiling, and turned to look at her as she came in. "Skye? What's wrong? Nightmare?"

She nodded, then shook her head, the tears streaming down her face. He moved over slightly and she crawled into the bed next to him, curling up against his uninjured side. "Coulson found my mother," she whispered into his shirt when she calmed down enough to speak.

"And?" 

"She's dead." Ward's arm came around her, rubbing her back in what he hoped was a soothing gesture as she sobbed silently into his shirt. "My mother's dead."

His heart broke as she cried herself to sleep in his arm, wishing he could do more for her than this.


	5. At Katharina's Grave:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from kana117's request "At Katharina's grave."

 

At Katharina's Grave:

Skye pushed a small stud earring through her earlobe, trying hard not to cry to avoid smudging her makeup. She wore a black skirt and a black sweater, the most conservative, but still nice clothes she owned.

"I'm almost ready," she said softly, holding in her tears as hard as she could. Jemma stepped into the bathroom beside her.

"Take you're time, sweetie." The scientist placed a comforting hand on the hacker's shoulder, giving her was she hoped was a reassuring smile. Skye nodded, a small bobbing gesture that made her have to blink back the tears once again. She put the other earring in and glanced at the other girl, giving her a watery smile. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"No, yes, I don't know." She clutched her necklace tightly, "I don't know."

* * *

Skye did not carry a bouquet of flowers or even a rose towards the grave, where her mother was buried. She knew Jewish customs from one of her foster families. AC mentioned that her mother was Jewish, so she placed a pebble next to her grave, on top of a small pile of stones. Somehow, it seemed like a more fitting marker than flowers. Her mother's sacrifice was lasting, like the pebble. It would always be remembered. The gold locket, her mother's locket, gleamed in stark contrast with the rest of her outfit.

As she stood in the cemetery, she couldn't bear it anymore and her strength left her. Instantly, she could feel Grant and Jemma come closer, but someone stopped them, letting her grief the loss of a mother she had never known, a mother who so obviously loved her enough that she'd rather be separated with her than let her get hurt. She felt like she could feel her mother there, like she was wrapping her in her arms. Or was it a memory she felt there?

The tears poured down her cheeks, the floodgates that held them back the whole morning had been broken down, the levees overflowed. Her head fell against the headstone and she could almost feel her mother's family's pain, left over from the funeral twenty-four years before, and it overwhelmed her. How could someone do such a thing? How could they-? Why had they?

"Why? Why? Why!" she kept asking, her voice becoming progressively louder until the others didn't know whether she was addressing her mother or her mother's killer. Her voice broke and she cried out again, "Why?"

Jemma pulled herself from Fitz's hand on her shoulder, going over to Skye to hold her. Grant knelt beside the two, wrapping his arms around Skye, and by extension, Jemma. Giving in, Fitz moved closer to the trio, but somehow couldn't comfort her the way those two were. Still, her sobs were heartbreaking to anyone within earshot.

"Why don't you join them?" May asked, watching the scene from a few rows back. Coulson didn't answer her inquiry and she looked at him in shock. "You still didn't tell her, did you? You told her about Katharina, but you couldn't both to get yourself up?"

"I couldn't. I just- I couldn't. Not yet. I will though, soon."

"You better. She's lost one parent," the pilot turned to leave, "I don't want to have to tell her when she's lost two."

Coulson continued to watch, feeling more helpless than he did when he had told her. When Skye had calmed down enough her to stand and for them to walk her to the SUV, he moved towards the grave, placing a stone of his own on the headstone.

 _The stone was a beautiful symbol_ , he thought.  _Stones last for eternity, as compared to flowers which wither and fade and eventually die. His memory of her was like the stones. It would never die._

He waited until they were gone before he started talking. "I'm sorry, Rina. I'm sorry. I don't know how to be the father she deserves. Why'd you leave us? Why'd you take her? Why'd you hide her? We could have protected you. I could have protected you. I could have kept you safe."

A hand touched his arm and a head fell against him. A pebble joined his stone. "I think she must have had a good reason for it," Tessa whispered. "I want to meet her."

"You know I can't let you do that yet, Tess."

She sighed, nodding her head, and lifted up a journal. "She named her Gabriele Christine, after our mother." She laughed slightly, "A nice gesture, considering she always forgot that our mother's name was Christine Gabriele and not the other way around."

"I remember," Coulson said, "She introduced your mother to me as 'Gabriele' and she had to correct her and say 'My name is Christine.'"

He turned and kissed the woman's forehead. "I didn't call you. How'd you know we'd be here?"

She snorted. "Please, I paid the guard to tell me if anyone who looked like they might be a fed came in. He tried to tell me that everyone looks like a fed in a suit, but obviously that's not true."

He rolled his eyes. Tessa should have worked for some intelligence agency, any intelligence agency. Kill him with a staff, put him in a plane that no one knows about, go to a graveyard without her knowledge, and somehow, some way, Tessa would find him.

She leaned up and kissed him softly. "I have a meeting at three. I need to get going." She sauntered off in a slow, teasing manner, like she hadn't just been visiting her sister's grave. Like her boyfriend, her sister's ex-boyfriend, the father of her niece, wasn't keeping her niece out of reach. Like she had no cares in the world.

He knew her better.

* * *

Grant sat with Skye, holding her close as she looked absolutely miserable as they sat in her bunk. His hand ran through her hair and he hated that this was all he could do for her. The door slide open and Jemma walked in, holding a tray with tea cups and pots. "I made tea."

"I think she probably wants something stronger than that," he told the scientist as the hacker sat staring at the same spot she had since she'd sat down, nearly catatonic.

"Right. I'll just go get something." She scampered off and returned a few minutes later with a bottle of liquor. "Will this do?"

"Should." He opened the top and raised it to Skye's lips. "Make you feel better." Obediently, she drank and he became more worried. Skye was never obedient.

Finally, she moved her hand, pushing the bottle awake. "Not an invalid," she muttered.

"Oh, we know that, sweetie," Jemma said, sitting down on the other side of the girl with her own cup of tea. "But it's nice to be taken care of once in a while. You've lost so much."

"I still have you guys and AC and Fitz and May," she whispered softly, "I'm so lucky and yet it doesn't feel that way. Is that selfish to want a mother and a father and a sibling and a half and a white picket fence?" Tears were streaming down her cheeks and all Grant could do was pull Skye closer, holding her until she was flush against him.

"Oh, no, sweetie. You're not selfish for wanting those things."

"I'm tired," Skye mumbled, the emotions of the day looking like they had taken quite the toll on her.

"Do you want us to leave?" Grant asked her.

"No!" The panicked word resounded through the room. She quieted, "No, stay. Please. Sleep with me. Both of you." He raised his eyebrow at her and she swatted at him weakly. "Not like that, you perv. I just don't want to be alone."

"Let me change into something a bit more comfy," Jemma spoke, standing up suddenly. She returned ten or so minutes later, Skye drifting between sleep and the real world. The dark-haired girl's eyes popped open as the scientist step in. "You could go change, if you'd like," she breathed to Grant before crawling in bed next to Skye.

"Hi," she said as Grant left the room.

Jemma smiled at her. "Hello."

"Stop being all…" she waved her hand around as if that explained anything, "It's making me… y'know."

"I'm not even sure that sentence was in English, so no, I don't really know."

Skye rolled her eyes, still looking worn. "You're like tip toeing around me and it's driving me nuts. I'm not fragile and I kind of want to strangle you for acting like I am, but that might just be me feeding off of Grant's residual anger from the staff." Her eyes dropped, her voice trailing off. "Not gonna though. Got better control over myself."

"You had a rough day, Skye. Has nothing to do with you being fragile." She pushed a strand of hair back behind Skye's ear, much like she remembered her own mother doing for her when she was upset.

Grant slid the door open, slipping in the bed on the other side of the brunette. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and she snuggled against him. Eyes closed. Jemma's head fell on top of Skye's, cuddling closer to them.

Skye fell asleep for the first time in her life feeling completely loved.


	6. Where Skye and Ward Go to Kidnap a Guy

 

Where Skye and Ward Go to Kidnap a Guy (or The Party):

"So we just go in, pretend we're guests, get the guy, and leave?" Skye asked between her S.O. and AC.

Grant pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's oversimplifying it."

"Or maybe you guys are over complicating it," she suggested innocently. He glared.

"Or maybe you're both over complicating it and oversimplifying it," Jemma spoke up, "I mean, it sounds easy enough, but there's lots of things you have to remember and do and-"

"I think they know that, Jem," Fitz interrupted her.

"Kids, behave," May said dryly.

Skye sighed loudly, over dramatically. "I don't understand why we can't just go in and grab this guy before."

"He's an important political figure," Coulson reminded her gently, "People will notice if he's not at the party and after the party is when he'll have a lapse in his security."

The brunette turned to May, "Why aren't you for the gun blazing, shoot first plan?"

"Because I know when that's a bad idea." The room was tense to the point where Skye was getting knots in her shoulders. She forced out a wave a calm over the other five and Grant dropped the hand from his face, Coulson sat down, and May relaxed ever so slightly.

"Alright, Skye, please," Coulson pleased with his daughter, "Listen to Grant on this. He's done this before, very successfully, might I add. We want this to go as smoothly as possible."

"Well duh," she replied, rolling her eyes at him. "Of course we want things to go smoothly. I just don't get why you guys are making me date him for a cover story or why I have to wear a long dress. I mean, they make me look short." Grant raised his eyebrow at her. "Shorter than I am."

Coulson sighed loudly. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Skye looked at the long purple dress hanging up in front of her and Grant in the hotel room that was above the party. They had set it up as a listening station, close enough that Fitz and Coulson could sit and listen in, but far enough away that they wouldn't blow the two's cover. "Oh, pretty. I get to wear this?" She asked her S.O. as he sat polishing his shoes.

"Do you see someone else who's going to wear it?"

"Well, purple might look good on Fitz," she teased. "Where do I put my gun?"

Grant didn't even look up at her. "You don't get a gun until you pass weapons training."

"Killjoy."

At this, he did look up at her, staring as if he was trying to figure out what sort of game she was playing.

"I'm sorry, did you actually want a gun?" he asked incredulously.

"No, but that's beside the point." He rolled his eyes at her.

The door opened and Coulson and Fitz stepped in. "What's beside the point?" the former asked them.

"If purple would look good on Fitz." She held the dress against the rocket scientist, "See, it goes good with his coloring and-" Grant chuckled and Skye beamed. "Hey, even the Robot agrees!"

Coulson shook his head at her antics. "Go get dressed, Skye."

"Okey doke." She grabbed the dress and skipped into the bathroom. Fitz's forehead furrowed in confusion.

"Isn't it 'okey dokey,' not 'okey doke?'"

* * *

When Skye stepped out of the bathroom a half hour later, three jaws dropped. Grant's jaw dropped because she looked stunning. Fitz's jaw dropped because he had never seen a teammate in real formal wear like what Skye was wearing. Coulson's jaw dropped because he couldn't believe he was letting his daughter out of the room in that dress.

Taking in their expressions, she twirled around, looking nervous. "I look okay, right? You're not collecting flies because I look hideous or something?"

It was Coulson who stepped up to her, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You look beautiful, Skye. Your mother would have been proud." He didn't tell her that he was proud, he couldn't afford to, not yet.

Apparently, that was enough. Her eyes shined up at him. "Really? You think so?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"You're not just saying that, right? I mean, don't get soft on me now, AC."

He laughed quietly. "I'm not just saying that." Fitz had shaken himself from his stupor, handing her a flesh-colored earpiece, which she popped in. "Are you both ready to go?"

She nodded, looking at Grant, who stood up, cocking his gun before putting it in the holster at the base of his back, pulling his jacket on over it. "I'm ready."

She grabbed her clutch purse from Coulson, following her S.O. through the door and to the elevator. She poked him awkwardly, bored in the elevator. He rolled his eyes and took her arm in his, like you saw in the movies of those ladies on the gentlemen's arms. "So are we going to dance?"

"Yes," he growled.

"Bad mood much?"

"I don't like dancing." Skye frowned, like she was focusing intensely on something. Then she beamed at him.

"Then you haven't been taught how to do it right. Come on!" She practically dragged him out to the dance floor. "I saw on TV that dancing's like the perfect way to watch people, cause you're spinning around and you get to hear everyone and see all the exits." She took his hand and put it on her hip. "You've just got to put your hands and feet right."

It turned out that he did know how to dance, once you loosened him up a bit. His movements were stiff at first, but he began to relax with Skye in his arms, spinning her around the room until he could get the frown that had suddenly appeared on her face to disappear. The song ended and everyone clapped, moving off the dance floor.

Skye, on the other hand, poked him, but he ignored her. She poked him again. "What?"

"I think something's wrong. I think it's a trap."

His eyes darted around the room nervously before he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. A man stepped in front of them. "Where do you think you're going? The party's just getting started."

Something electric touched their necks, making Skye cry out. The world went fuzzy, then black.


	7. When Skye and Ward are Held Captive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based somewhat on NCISRookie33's prompt "Skye gets in a life threatening situation, just injured or Ward and Skye should become closer like REALLY close."

 

When Skye and Ward are Held Captive:

The room she was in wasn't your typical prison cell. Three sides were gray, but the was glass. There was two cots there, along with a toilet and a sink and a little curtain that could be pulled around the bathroom area for privacy, like those curtains you saw in the hospitals. She sat up, looking around, trying to reach out to find Grant but feeling something that she always felt was equivalent with radio static. Someone was blocking her abilities. Or had they drugged her, she wondered, feeling the fuzziness in her head. She sat up quickly, so quickly she was almost dizzy, still in her fancy party dress. Her purse was on the cot beside her.

She could however hear people approaching. She went limp, pretending to be asleep. The glass doors opened and a few large men brought a very drugged up Ward in, laying him on the empty cot. Once they were gone, she jumped up, going over to her S.O. and slapping him lightly, trying to get him to wake up. His hand responded before the rest of him did, grabbing her hand before she could hit him again.

"Stop hitting me, Rookie."

"You gonna wake up then?" She breathed out a sigh of relief as she felt his annoyance at her. She felt so cold without the emotions around her, but it was good that she knew they hadn't taken her abilities away from her. They were just blocking it outside of the room, so they knew what she could do.

"No. Tired," he mumbled.

"Where are we?"

"No idea." He groaned, turning over to look at her. "They probably knew we were with SHIELD and want something. Information, I guess."

Her hands fell open against the cot and she got a vivid flash of what had happened to the cell's last resident. He's been able to short out the electricity on the door with his hands and tried to escape. But the door opened and he was dragged away, tortured, and brought back, left to die. The man had been in pain, scared, alone. They'd done something to him and he hadn't survived it. She gasped loudly, coming out of it.

She opened her eyes, looking at Grant's now opened, concerned ones.

"Skye? You okay?"

"I don't think they grabbed us for information." She leaned her forehead against her hands. "I need to tell you something."

"What's wrong?"

 "I'm an empath."

There was silence from him as he stared at him. Then, his voice came, cutting through like steel the though air, "What? You're just telling me this  _now_?"

She felt herself getting angrier. "Well obviously I'm not the only one who's been lying! They wouldn't be keeping you too if you weren't as much of a freak as I am."

"What makes you say that? Are you in league with them too, just like your friend there in Austin?"

"You mean Miles? Now's really the time to be getting jealous over my ex?" she yelled incredulously. "They have us locked in this freakin' box!" She slammed her hands against the glass, her anger almost canceling out the electric charge. "They're going to do who knows what to us and you pick now to start lying miserably."

"Miserably? I do not lie miserably." She snorted.

"Please. 'Oh, I'm just late and sleep in the same clothes over night and wake into May room and have sex with her, but we're going to pretend it never happened.' And it works for her, but you suck at lying. I don't know how you became a spy or have lived this long."

"So it's not okay for me to bring up your ex-boyfriend who you betrayed us over, but you get jealous over the fact I slept with May? I don't see how it's any of your business." Ward stepped into her face, his voice low, dangerous. "What does it matter?"

She didn't dare tell him it mattered because she'd been hurt that he hadn't taken her up on her offer or that she had feelings for him. She didn't say that her sickness after the incident with Tobias was all because of him. Her body was literally vibrating with emotion, shaking until she was unable to keep herself steady. He stepped closer and she moved back and he followed her again. So what she did say was: 

"I swear to God, Ward, for your sake and mine, do not touch me and do not test me."

Empathy was a much more dangerous ability than anyone gave it credit for. As angry as she was, if he touched her, she might kill him in her loss of control, by accident. Something inside her might even take over, dragging it out for as long as she could, hurting him like he'd hurt her when she felt all of it. Skye wasn't in control of herself any more than he had been on the Berserker staff. But it wasn't just her anger she would be directing at him, but also his own. His rage was fueling hers and he just kept adding logs and gasoline to the fire.

"What are you going to do about if I do?" Two guards chose the wrong time to step in and try to restrain her and Ward. Her guard convulsed, falling to the floor as he started to seizure. Ward turned on his guard, a kid who'd obviously never held a gun before. He was shaking to point it at them. Of course, he was able to easily disarm him. "Check your friend. Hand me his weapon."

The boy knelt, retrieving the gun from his fallen comrade and passing it to Ward, afraid. He touched the guard on the ground's neck and whimpered, "He's dead. She killed him." Skye rolled her eyes. Whatever had taken over in her, it didn't care if it killed some guard. It wasn't like it was the first time. Later, she'd probably feel bad about it, but right now, she was beyond caring.

"Where are we?" she asked the kid, her voice cold.

"Uh… a-a l-lab. A-a-uh re-research facility."

"Okay. Open the door," the specialist ordered.

"I-I-I can't. I can't!" he shouted when Ward cocked the gun. "There's a guy that does. They don't care about me. You'd probably be doing them a favor if you killed me." He closed his eyes, waiting for the shot that didn't come.

"He's telling the truth," Skye announced, not looking any less pissed.

"How the hell would you know?"

The tensions in the room were high and each little bit of rage Ward was putting out, she was sending it right back out at him, all without either realizing it. Skye was doing her best to keep her emotions in after her touching the guard, but he was receiving it anyways. The kid was terrified. She ignored him.

She faced Ward and pointed at herself, "Hello? Empath. I'm like a friction' lie detector," she muttered the last part under her breath, too enraged to even try lying. Ward lowered the gun pointed at the kid. He pulled off his tie and tossed it at Skye.

"Tie him to that post. We can use him as leverage."

"I could just knock him out."

"Like you did with the other guy?" She ignored her S.O. tapping the kid's temple, causing him to go limp and fall sprawled out on the floor.

"There. He's alive. Got a heartbeat and everything." She sat down on her cot. "So what the hell are you?"

He glared at her and that odd feeling came back over her. It took her a while to figure out what it was, considering she hadn't felt it very often, but then her eyes went wide and she moved away from him like he would burn her. "What?" She didn't answer, leaving him more frustrated than anything. "Skye!"

"You're a demon, aren't you?" She realized, "Or at least part demon. You've obviously human enough to mask it, otherwise I would have figured that out before now. But I knew you couldn't be human."

"How-?"

"Different species give off different emotional signatures. Every so often, yours fires off a distinct 'not human' one at me." The anger drained out of him and some of it left her and he sat down on his cot. She turned to the body, touching the temple on him to let the rest of her anger flow into him. It wouldn't do any of them any good to have her accidentally kill one of them. "Does anyone else know?"

"Yeah. It's in my file." At her confused look, he added, "Not the ones you got to look at. How about you?"

"Jemma. A guy in upstate New York who helped me learn control. Other than that, no."

"Do you think he told anyone?"

"No. He's dead."

Grant snorted. "That doesn't mean much. I've faked my death too. Coulson has died."

"I'm pretty sure he's really dead."

"What, you saw the body?"

Skye wrinkled her nose. "It was more like chunk soup."

"Car bomb?"

"He blew himself up." She received an odd look for that. "He was a chemist. Lab accidents happen." She leaned her head back against the wall. "So what are we gonna do to get out of here?"

* * *

Skye wasn't mediating or praying, or so she said. He was pretty sure that sitting with your back against the wall with your eyes shut could be either. Suddenly, as if knowing he was watching her, her eyes popped open. 

"You okay?" he asked, his voice almost gentle.

"I'm fine."

"Skye, you just killed a guy. You don't need to lie." She looked at him. 

"If I was upset about it, you'd know it." She brushed her hair back out of her face and he studied her, realizing something.

"That wasn't the first time you've killed someone, is it?" She shrugged, not saying yes or no.

"Empathy's a dangerous thing," was her explanation.

"Bullshit." She raised her eyebrow. "You've done it before."

"Not on purpose." Skye turned her face away so he couldn't see just how much it affected her. "When I was growing up, I had no control over it, over myself. When I got angry, everyone would start yelling. When I'd cry, everyone was in tears. Any strong emotion that someone would feel, I'd automatically broadcast it out as well. If I made people mad enough, sometimes the little brain vessels in their head would start to explode. If I made them too calm, their heart would stop. I killed some people out of pure accident, without realizing that I had caused it until I got older, after I learned to control it. So yes, I've killed people before. And when I lose control," she snorted, looking down at her hands, "I guess we're lucky I have control over it."

Grant glanced at the dead body on the floor. "If that was you in control, I'm not sure anyone could handle you out of control."

She shuttered violently, pulling her knees closer to her chest. "I just wish I'd grabbed a shawl or something before we left." Her gown was sleeveless and she was starting to feel the cold. He shrugged off his jacket, wrapping it around her body. He wished the cot had a blanket, but it would have to do for now.

He could feel her stress, her pain, but he didn't know how. "You're not okay." Her hands clenched until the knuckles were white. "What are you doing? Are you 'broadcasting' your emotions?" 

She looked up at him, confused. "What? No! I'm-" She went still, her eyes focused somewhere over his shoulder. "Oh God."

"What?"

"I think they forced an empathic link."

"A what?"

"It's… a thing. It's like you feel what I feel. I don't know much about it. It's rare." She leaned her head against him. "I'm so sorry, Grant."

He wrapped his arms around her, knowing she needed the comfort right now. She knew more than she was saying. "Why?"

"Because I think I'm why they took us," she answered after a long time. "Empathic links are rare and you need an empath in the mix for it to work. He," she motioned to the guard, "said that this was a research lab. They're probably studying it on us."

He nodded, accepting this.

"Then we'll find a way out."


	8. Where Coulson is worried and Skye and Grant Plan Their Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt was "Where Coulson get super worried & protective about losing Skye because she's been captured by an enemy of SHIELD" by Anon.
> 
> Some of you didn't like that Grant was a demon. However, he is not a full demon and there is a logical reason why I did this. Skye needs someone as strong as she is, someone who can withstand her power. Grant is only demonic enough to make it so she can't kill him with her powers.
> 
> Also, some of you asked to see Skye's dress. Even though it's the wrong color, it's the closest I could find to what I was imagining it.
> 
> http://g.nordstromimage.com/imagegallery/store/product/Large/4/_8204524.jpg
> 
> http://g.nordstromimage.com/imagegallery/store/product/Large/11/_8204831.jpg
> 
> To the guest that said I watched Charmed, yes, I watched parts of it. I loved Cole, but that wasn't where I got the idea of half demon from. He has some aspects of like the demons in the Slayers and vampires on Buffy and the ones on Supernatural. Oddly enough, I thought of Meg the whole time I wrote about his demon. To the Supernatural fans out there... Skye is Grant's unicorn.

 

Where Coulson is worried and Skye and Grant Plan Their Escape:

They hadn't come back. They were radio silent and they weren't supposed to be. The target hadn't shown up to the party. Everything about this mission seemed off and Coulson couldn't shake the feeling. "We need to find her-them," he corrected himself quickly before the two scientists could catch his mistake. May, on the other hand, caught it instantly.

"We'll find her," she assured him softly. "If they're together, you know Ward won't let something happen to her.

"Skye and Ward were definitely here, but the tapes were wiped," Fitz's voice came suddenly, speaking up.

Coulson closed his closed his eyes in pain. His daughter was missing and they had no leads. How were they supposed to find her and Ward?

"Wait! I've got something!" Fitz cried and they all gathered around, "Is that-?"

"It is!" Simmons sat down, looking at the screen.

"That's-?" Coulson started and they both looked at him and answered in unison. 

"Yes."

* * *

Skye woke up with a kink in her neck and a protective pair of arms around her. It took her a moment to figure out where she was or what had happened. "You okay?"

"Huh?" she asked Grant groggily.

"You were freezing last night." Well of course she was. She was still only in a flimsy dress and while his jacket had helped, it wasn't much. He rubbed her arms, trying to warm her up a little.

She sat up and he let her. "What are we going to do about soldier boy?"

"I figure that we hold him hostage to get us out of here." The boy in question was awake on the floor, tied to Grant's cot. He stared at them, eyes wide and terrified.

"Please. They don't care about me…"

Skye frowned, got off the cot, and sat down in front of him. He just continued to look at her, wary, like she'd kill him. It took a few minutes but then she glanced up at her S.O. "He's been brainwashed, but he's fighting it. That's why he keeps going on about them not caring about him. I think I might be able to help him break through the rest of it."

Grant nodded. "Do it."

"Don't I get a say in this?" the boy cried out.

"You either let her help you," the specialist threatened, standing up, "Or you can be a human shield." The boy's eye widened even more, enough that Skye thought for a minute that he might pass out.

"Ok," he whimpered.

"I'll hurt," she warned him, but he nodded, jaw set firmly. 

"Do it." She reached out to him. It only took a few seconds before he was screaming in pain.

* * *

Fitz was typing furiously while Simmons searched through all of SHIELD's databases, looking for the woman in the flower dress. "Found her!" they exclaimed at the same time.

"The woman visited a man in prison. Two weeks ago, he broke out. And he was on the surveillance tapes at the hotel too," Jemma told the rest of the team.

"I followed their car. They parked in a parking garage three miles from the hotel, but another car left minutes after that and they're in it. I followed where they went and I think I might have found where Skye and Agent Ward are being held."

May nodded her head towards the door before leaving and Coulson moved to follow her. "Excuse us." Once away from the two scientist, he looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"I understand why they would have taken Ward, but Skye? Do you think she inherited Katharina's abilities?" He raised his eyebrow. "Please, everyone knew what she could do."

"I never put her on the Index."

May's expression didn't waver. "I suspect Skye might need to be." She shrugged as he set his jaw firmly against the idea. "I've had my suspicions around her before."

"Skye's not like Rina," he denied vehemently. She stared at him. "She's an innocent bystander this time. She was taken because was with Grant at the time. If Jemma had been with Grant at the time, then she would have been taken too. She was in the wrong place, wrong time. Don't read into things that aren't there. Skye is not like Rina."  

"I hope for your sake you're right," she whispered as he walked up the stairs angrily.

* * *

The boy was recovering on the floor, unconscious. Skye sat on her cot, fiddling with the hem of her dress as Grant disassembled the gun before reassembling it.

"So just how much demon are you?" Skye finally decided to ask. Ward stiffened.

"Enough."

"That's  _real_  descriptive. Any more and I might have the most in detailed picture ever," she muttered sarcastically under her breath, too quietly for human ears. But still, Grant heard and rolled his eyes.

"My father was a half-demon. Happy?"

"Mood swings much?" She shrugged at him. "So besides switching moods like a pregnant lady, what else can you do? Can you like, throw people or stuff? Oh! How about mind control? I met a couple demons who could."

"I'm not a full demon, Skye." She shrugged again, as if saying 'Yeah, so?' He sighed. "Supposedly my sense are stronger than most people and I have a higher pain threshold and tolerance, but other than that I don't think any-"

"That sucks." He went back to reassembling the gun and felt the mattress dip beside him moments later. "Mine teaching me that?"

"I'm your S.O." He said it so simply, like that was an actually answer.

"So that means yes, right?"

He put the completed gun in her hands and wrapped his arms around her body, curling his hands around hers, his cheek pressing against hers, her back to his chest. He went through each motion, pulling the slide back to check for bullets, releasing it, decocking it. He showed her how to take the slide off, to take the whole gun apart. Then he showed her how to put it back together.

Not a word was passed between them as he taught her. For the first time, she didn't ask questions or sass him. It was like they had transcended reality for a little while, in their own world. They weren't in the cell in their minds, there wasn't a dead body on the floor, and there wasn't unconscious boy at the foot of the bed.

His mouth met hers in a bruising kiss. Her face turned to meet him better, followed by the rest of her body. He pulled her closer to him, removed the gun from her hands, and set in on the bed beside him. He head was thumping loudly and a flurry of emotions ran across the link. She pulled back, looking almost vulnerable as she whispered, "What are we doing?" His eyebrows raised comically. He thought it had been pretty obvious what they were doing. "I'm not going to make out with you because we're going to die."

He sighed. "We're not going to die. And even if we were, that's not why I was kissing you. You frustrate me and annoy the hell out of me, but I'll be damned if I have to figure out how to live without you again. I love you, Skye."

"What?" she whispered in shock, pulling away. She looked horrified and he could feel the depth of her pain over the link. "No, you don't."

Now it was his turn to be confused. "What? I think I know how I feel."

She shook her head, hating herself a little as tears leaked from the corner of her eyes. "No, you don't. Whatever you're feeling, it's not real," she insisted. After all, he might have cared about her without the link, but the idea that he suddenly loved her back, that he wanted to touch and kiss her and be with her, it was a fantasy. If he really loved her, why had he blown her off to go sleep with May? It was much more likely that what he thought was him loving her was really her feelings for him.

A sudden surge of anger hit her and it took her a second to realize that it wasn't her own. Grant was on his feet, pacing the room. "How the hell would you know? Damnit, Skye! I do love you. I just-" He cut off, his eyes blackening for a moment as he punched the wall and she flinched as she felt the pain run through his hand. He was scaring her a little, but anything he said to her, anything he did couldn't be worse than the torture of making him think he loved her or the idea that she might have to live with him thinking that for the rest of their lives. 

 _It's not real,_ she reminded herself,  _what he's feeling's not real._

Or at least that's what she kept trying to tell herself. But Grant was too angry to even think that what he was feeling might just be some byproduct of the link, so he did the last thing he could think of.

He kissed her again.

Her mind was bombarded with images of her, of dreams of them, but not a one was her own. He was kissing her and all she could do was watch helplessly as the pictures and feelings went by. His memories and emotions. She could feel him realize the depth of his feelings for her as she slept in his arms, felt him struggle not to kiss her, felt him fight himself whether or not he should tell her. They were his thoughts and dreams of a life they would share together, all with one very important thing missing.

She couldn't feel the link in a single memory.

Could it be possible? Could he really have loved her before the link took hold?

"You love me?" she asked softly when they broke apart, "Like actually love me?"

He snorted, but it wasn't mean-spirited. The short-lived burst of anger was gone completely from him. "That's what I've been trying to tell you."

There was a groan from the floor and the soldier boy rubbed his head. "What'd I miss?"

* * *

Coulson was tempted to drink himself into an alcohol-induced coma, because at least drunk he wouldn't have to think about what if May was right about Skye. The very idea— absurd! Ridiculous! How could she be? He would have noticed. He noticed with Rina.

But what if Skye was more subtle about her abilities. After all, she'd grown up in a world that wouldn't have taken too kindly to any sort of 'magic' powers. It was easy to believe that she would have hid them from the world. 

May opened the door and slipped in, silently as always. "We found her."

He looked up at the woman as she turned to leave. "Skye really did inherit Rina's abilities, didn't she?"

May shrugged. "I think she did, but I have no proof. It's just a feeling."

He nodded. "Is Grant with her?"

"As best that we can tell, yes. I set the plane on course to there." He dropped his head to look at his almost empty glass of scotch, but May put the bottle away before he could pour more. "She'll need you at your best, not drunk." With that, she did move out of the room, closing the door behind her.

He stared at the glass again. Perhaps Melinda was right, he shouldn't attempt to get drunk now. His daughter needed him.

* * *

 

"-and there's a hallway down that way that leads to the elevator to go up to the surface," the boy finished telling them before turning to Skye. "You can pretend to be passed out, right?" She nodded. "We're told to respond if anyone passes out because it means the experiment's failing and they like to see why. We'll just have to grab their attention."

"Not a problem," Grant told him, stroking his fingers down Skye's spine with a gentleness that she knew he only showed her, "After all, we got you two to come."

"So what are we waiting for?" Skye asked, reaching over to peck her S.O.'s cheek before she allowed herself to go limp. Both men stared, wondering if for a moment she had really passed out. One eye popped open. "Well, are you going to do something?"

A few seconds later, she could hear them yelling and pounding on the wall. She could hear the door slide open and heavy foot steps come in. As soon as she was out of the door and on the cart, she snaked her fingers around their wrists, letting calmness rush over them until they flopped down. She sat up, smiled, grabbed the keycard off of one of the guards and opened the door for Grant and the boy. They relieved the guards of their weapons, running down the hallway that the boy had told them about.

There was more yelling and the door came down at the end of the hallway. They were trapped, blocked in by guards coming after them and the door.

"No! Damnit!" Grant shouted, kicking the door before he pointed the guns at the advancing guards.

"Any chance you could make them pass out without touching them?" the boy asked Skye, who shook her head.

"It's a touch thing."

"Well, it was nice meeting you and being held hostage by you." She smiled at him.

"We're not going to die," Grant growled back at them. At some point, he had moved to stand in front of Skye, blocking her from the others' weapons. 

A shot was fired, then another, and he went stiff, getting ready to shoot. But then, he stopped. The army of guards seemed to be getting taken apart from behind. The last fell and there stood the Calvary. Coulson stood behind her with a gun, not the Night Night Pistol. Grant was struck with a shocking realization, Coulson had shot to kill.

They stared at them for a moment or two before May raised her eyes at them. "Are you coming or not?"

Skye ran at her, throwing her arms around her. The older woman looked stunned and patted her back awkwardly. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you guys!" She turned to Coulson and hugged him as well.

The older man wrapped his arms around his daughter, taking relief in the fact that she was okay before he let her go. Together, the group walked the way they'd come in. May stopped short, and the other's followed.

The girl in the flower dress was there, her neck broken as she hung from a beam. FitzSimmons were standing by her. "I thought I told youth to stay in the plane."

"They're our friends too!" Jemma proclaimed, surprising them all. "But she saw us and heard the fighting and we followed her and she'd-"

"Is that-?" Skye started and they others all nodded. "Anti-climatic much?"

"It's not over," May muttered, pointing at the fireplace filled with burning papers, too blackened to be saved. 

"But it is for right now," Coulson amended, "There's a SHIELD team on the way. They'll take care of this facility. Let's go back to the bus."


	9. When Skye get Sick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two different prompts were used for this chapter.
> 
> She gets the flu, even as an adult, when I'm puking I want my mom- Joy Booth
> 
> Also, it would be hilarious to see Coulson freak out over Skye/Ward getting together, and not just dating if you know what I mean. if you don't I mean he sees Ward walk out of her room or something and totally freaks out and vents/rants to May- Guest

When Skye gets Sick:

Skye lay on her back, enjoying the weight of her S.O. on top of her as he kissed her senseless. Each kiss, each touch reassured her she wasn't dreaming about this. He'd never touched her in any of her dreams, never loved her. Reality was so much better. "I love you," he murmured against her neck as he leaned down to nip at her collarbone.

She let out a moan as his hands wandered her body, thanking whatever deity was out there. She had told Hannah she didn't believe in God, and most of the time she didn't. But right now, this was a miracle and she'd be a selfish bitch if she wasn't going to be grateful for it.

"Love you," she whispered back.

Her fingers ran down his body, nails racking his back. This was just making out, nothing more. Still, every inch of Skye was tingling. She could feel him kissing her and could feel everything he was feeling and it was overwhelming. 

He drew back suddenly, frowning at her. "What's wrong?" she asked as he looked at her. A hand came up to her forehead.

"You're hot."

"Thanks. You too." Grant rolled his eyes.

"No, not like that. Not that you aren't," he backtracked at her look, "but you feel hot, like you have a fever."

She shrugged at that. "It's not unlikely. Highly stressful situation. Girl who feels everything, all emotions here. And it was only my second time being kidnapped and I don't remember you guys drugging me." She leaned up to kiss him, but he turned his face last second. She pouted.

"Nice try, but you're not getting me sick too." He kissed her forehead, climbing off of her, despite her protests. He found his pants in the pile of clothes and pulled them on. "I'll be back."

He grabbed his shirt from where it landed on the floor before he walked out of her bunk, sliding the door shut behind him. He turned around, pulling his shirt on and walked straight into Coulson. The man stood, arms crossed. 

"What exactly were you doing in there shirtless, Agent Ward?"  _Uh oh, you know you were in trouble when Coulson called you by your title and last name_ , Grant thought,  _Although, what does he have to be mad about?_

"We were talking."

The man didn't relax. He didn't even smile at that. "I find that hard to believe."

May had chosen then to take a walk and stretch her legs when she ran across a very angry father and an annoyed boyfriend. "What's wrong?"

"He's mad that I came out of Skye's bunk." May glanced at Coulson and rolled her eyes.

"There's nothing in SHIELD's rules against S.O.-Rookie relationships. And there's precedent of it. You can probably go," she told Ward, guiding Coulson away. When they were in his office, door shut securely, she spoke, "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Either you want to be that girl's father or you don't. You don't get to have it both ways."

He stared at her. "He's sleeping with my daughter! You want me to be okay with that?"

"I want you to either man up and tell her or stop trying to scare off her boyfriends."

"It's not really your place to say, Melinda. He shouldn't be sleeping with her. What's going to happen when he breaks her heart? They'll be on this plane and they won't get along and then he'll accidentally fall out of the cargo hatch over an ocean."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Really? Accidentally? And I suppose you'll 'accidentally' be leaning on the button. Will you accidentally discharge your weapon a half dozen times in his chest too?"

He looked thoughtful at that. "You know, I could do that. I wonder if FitzSimmons would whip up something to put him to sleep."

"No! You're not roofying your daughter's boyfriend."

"But I could. Maybe I should inject him with more truth serum and handcuff him to the table and ask him what his intentions are with her."

"Coulson-"

"I mean, I guess if he wants a real relationship with her, that'd be alright, but only as long as he plans to marry her." He had an evil glint in his eyes. "But if he doesn't, I can make him hurt like he'd hurt her, until he'll beg for mercy, but there won't be any. Just like there won't be any when he breaks her heart-" 

She slammed her hands on the desk, making him cut off his sentence suddenly. "Phil. Leave the poor boy alone."

"I can't even scare him a little. I could ask him what he's planning to do without the truth serum while I'm cleaning my gun and-."

"Do you really think threats will bother him?"

"Who said anything about threats?" He looked up at her, almost innocently, "I fully intend on following through."

"I'm not going to let you shoot Agent Ward just because you're mad he's sleeping with your daughter," she told him, annoyed. She looked right at him, "Look, you went twenty-four years without being a part of her life. It'd be one thing to be mad that she's dating anyone if you had told her she was yours, but you haven't told her. You want to be a part of her life, but by putting off telling her, you're only ensuring that she won't want you to be. Either tell her the truth or leave her boyfriend alone."

May sighed loudly before she spoke again, "She makes him happy. He makes her happy. And God knows that someone around here could use a little happiness. Are you really going to take away what little happiness she has from her?"

Coulson groaned loudly. "I hate it when you make sense."

* * *

True to his word, Grant did return, bearing gifts. Skye nearly kissed him when she saw the mug of soup. She did kiss him when she saw the pain-killers-slash-fever-reducers. "How are you feeling?"

"Ugh!" she complained, "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

Grant chuckled, dropping a kiss to the top of her head as he sat down beside her. "You might have mentioned it once or twice."

"My head hurts."

"I know." He looked at her, "I think you left some things out about this link."

"Probobably. 'S rare. Like steak." She groaned as she lay against his body after finishing her food. "You're warm. Like so warm. You're like my own personal space heater." She poked his chest, "My hard, warm space heater. You're all firm and muscley" She snuggled up to him, burying her nose into his side.

He glanced at the label on the bottle of pills. He'd only given her one and the recommended was two. She couldn't possibly have gotten high off of one pill, could she? "You think too much," she whined suddenly.

"I thought you were empathic, not telepathic."

"Telempathic, actually," she muttered, "It's like getting Internet through a phone line instead of wirelessly. Different method, same result, more or less. And you think way too loud and too much." She giggled slightly, "Which is funny 'cause normally it's just emotions. But you," she poked his chest again for emphasis, "You're all talky up there instead of feely. It's weird."

She closed her eyes, drifting back and forth between sleep and reality.

He rolled his eye. "Go to sleep, Skye. Maybe you'll actually make sense once you're fever drops." He pulled out from under here. "I'll be back later to check on you."

"M'kay. Nighty night." He indulged her, smiling slightly before kissing her on the forehead.

* * *

"Ugh!" Coulson could hear Skye cry out as he passed by her bunk. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer, so he opened it, fully expecting to see Ward in there with her. To his surprise, she was alone.

"Are you okay?"

"No! I'm dying!" she exclaimed dramatically, pulling her pillow over her head.

"You're dying?" he asked skeptically before he felt her arm. It was burning hot to the touch. "Are you sick?"

"No. I'm dying! Let me die in peace!" Eyes wide, he left the room, going to find Simmons to find out if Skye was indeed dying. The scientist stepped out of the bunk a few minutes later, looking at her.

"Nothing too serious to worry about. She just has a case of a rather odd strand of influenza, one that's not even very contagious at that. It seems to just be sitting in her, which is rather unusual. I've taken some blood samples to run in the lab. It's quite exciting, really! If Skye has a new strand of influenza, then I could be the first one discovering it. Although it's nothing serious, she's being highly over-dramatic. She keeps claiming that she'd dying."

"Yes, I heard that part."

"Yes, well, she just needs to be kept comfortable and needs to drink a lot. I've given her some generic influenza antivirals as well as some acetaminophen, which should help reduce the fever and sooth some of her pain, at least until I can better determine what the serotype is." With that, Simmons skipped off, rather cheerful over the fact that her friend was sick.

Her head was killing her and ever inch of her ached. It felt very much like she was dying. She wanted to throw up, just so her stomach would settle down. Coulson stepped back inside. "Go 'way."

Skye pulled the pillow back over her face. "No."

"Leave me alone," she muttered into the stuffing.

He sat down at the edge of the bed. "Are you going to sleep?"

She groaned at that. "No."

"Then I'm not leaving you. Do you want to watch a movie?"

"No."

"Do you want something to eat?"

"No."

"Do you want me to tell you about your mom?" he asked her, sure that would get her to agree to something.

Again, the answer came, "No."

"So what do you want to do then?"

"I wanna die!"

He stiffened. "That's not going to happen, Skye."

"Too bad." She pulled the pillow down slightly to look at him. "Can you cut the top of my head off? My brain is killing me."

"Ha ha," he muttered dryly, "Very funny."

"And can you cut out my stomach so I stop feeling like I'm going to puke?"

"Skye…" he warned.

"But A.C. I'm in pain! It'd be a mercy killing. Like youth in Asia."

"You mean euthanasia." She waved her hand at that, as if to say, 'Same difference.' "And we're not going to kill you just because you've got a headache."

She made a noise of disagreement and put the pillow back under her head. He thought she might be asleep for a minute with the way her breathing evened out, but then she opened her eyes slightly to look at him. "Did'ja say somepin' 'bout my mom?"

"You want me to tell you more about her?" She looked up at him for a moment or two before she spoke.

"Yes, please."

"Well, she was a lot like you. I'm surprised she even wanted to join SHIELD. She had this thing about rules and doing the opposite of them, just like you," he said fondly. May was wrong. He could have it both ways. He'd make it work.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. She also had this tendency to do really stupid things if she thought it'd keep people safe. Although, her idea of hacking a computer generally had to do with explosives."

"Did'ja know 'er well?"

"Well enough. I didn't know she had a daughter, yet here you are."

"Yay me," she murmured sleepily, her eyes drooping shut. He stayed until he was sure she was asleep, then stroked her hair back from her face.

"I love you, my daughter," he whispered, "Feel better. Sleep well."

 

 

* * *

Grant slid the door open later, slipping into Skye's bunk. The girl lay fast asleep, her hair sprawled over her pillow, despite the fact that she was laying in her stomach. She was clutching her locket, despite that it had been on her nightstand, it had subconsciously found its way into Skye's hand. He touched her forehead, gently, trying not to wake her. She blinked up at him anyways.

"Hey Rookie, you feeling better?"

"Little."

"You hungry? I made some dinner." She nodded and he smiled at her.

"Hold me for a little while?" He nudged her over on the bed and she sat up for a brief second, letting him sit down before she collapsed onto him, nuzzling her nose into his neck. "A.C. told me about my mom. They knew each other. He said he didn't know about me, but it felt like he was lying. Why would he have lied about something like that?"

"I don't know." He rubbed her back, stroking down her spine gently until she was a big pile of Skye-shaped goo. "When I ran into him earlier, he was acting strange."

"'Bout what?"

"He seemed almost mad that I had been in here with you. Then May came and ran interference."

Skye frowned. "I didn't think us being together was anything to get mad about." She shrugged, moving her arm to lay across his chest. "Maybe 'cause he knew my mom, maybe he feels protecting." She kissed his neck. "I love saying that. My mom. I had a mom and she loved me and wanted to keep me safe."

"Now you've got a whole team who'll keep you safe. We'll find out what he's hiding, Skye. Don't worry about it right now." 

"M'kay. Love you."

"Love you too, Rookie." She smiled, feeling better than she had all day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> True story- I used to think euthanasia was "Youth in Asia." And since they sound the same, no one ever corrected me until I wrote it on a test and my teacher wrote in the margins, "Really? There's youth in Asia? I think you mean euthanasia."
> 
> Other true story- The whole sick thing was based off of my over dramatic friend/roommate. Everytime she gets a headache, she asks us to chop the top of her head off. Same thing if she hurts like her foot or leg... she the epitome of drama queen. She also swore she was dying when she got sick, only she lay sprawled across the couch, hogging the whole thing, moaning it loudly over the tv. And she whines about it, but her English becomes barely understandable because she'll drop syllables and words and all, but she expects us to know what she's talking about. Which is funny because it's just so not her. She's normally all tough and badass but the minute she starts sniffling, it's like she three years old. If you broke her crayons when she got sick, she'd probably hold it against you for forever, like most little kids would.
> 
> R&R. Are there any prompts you'd like to see done?


	10. When Skye Finds Out the Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's been wanting Skye to find out the truth, so here it is!
> 
> Warnings for strong language, the kind of thing that becomes pretty reasonable when you find out someone you truth has been lying to you. I didn't feel it'd be realistic without it.

 

When Skye Finds Out the Truth:

Skye pulled the ripped papers from the trash. Even after May's harsh words, she was determined to take one last look through the files Coulson had allowed her of her mother's. He had been taken by the people who did Centipede and as far as Mike's emotional signature went, he was out cold, taken with them as well. Ace had been upset, but after reassuring him that they'd get his dad back, she had locked herself in her bunk one last time.

"Come on, Mom. What were you hiding?" she muttered, looking at the papers again. Katharina had been top of her class, had more disciplinary strikes against her than SHIELD really allowed, and had been good at her job. She'd been a prankster, a rule-breaker, and an extraordinary agent.

But it was what wasn't there that spoke the loudest to her.

Nowhere did it mention her and Coulson being friends or even knowing each other, which was odd, because the way he spoke about her indicated they'd been close. His emotions indicated they'd been intimate.

A hand came over her mouth in realization. Coulson had edited the files before he gave them to her. That was why certain information was missing. He was lying to her and May didn't want her to dig further into it, which could only mean that they both knew.

* * *

Grant knocked on her door when it wouldn't open. He could feel her, upset, angry, emotional and irrational. "Skye? Open the door."

"I can't- I can't-" He heard her mutter from the other side. Frowning, he went to try to open it the hard way when the door slid open. The scene was heartbreaking.

Her eyes were red, swollen, and tears were overflowing from them. The room was a mess, papers flung everywhere when she'd been angry. Some of them had been ripped and taped together. The laptop was overturn on the floor. She was hugging herself like she was scared of everything and he could only remember seeing her this upset when she learned her birth mother was dead.

Without words, he pulled her into his arms, holding her close as she clung to him, sobbing. She needed privacy. She shouldn't have to be hurting in front of the whole plane. He pushed her back into the room, closing the door behind them and locking it, letting her let out her emotions. "We'll get them back," he promised her, thinking that might be what she was upset about.

At first, he'd been jealous upon seeing the way Mike Peterson and Skye interacted. But from his Rookie, he could feel only friendship and fondness, the same that she felt for Fitz.

"I know."

"Skye…"

"Please don't," she begged, "Not right now. I can't- I just can't." She looked up at him, "Please, Grant, I need you."

"Okay," he whispered, soothing her. He bent his head down to met her lips. "You're going to let me take care of you?"

She nodded, "Yes, please." She kissed him, holding him close to her. "Please."

"Sh... everything's going to be okay." He lifted her gently into the bed. "We'll find them." Her skin seemed to be vibrating. It'd never don't that before. "Skye, are you alright?"

And then he could feel her anger again, flaring up as she pulled herself from him. Fresh tears poured down her face and she couldn't see straight.

"No! I'm just so-" she cut off to claw at the wall, letting her head fall against it. He went to sounded her and she screamed out in anger, before her pain overtook it. "I just don't understand, Grant," she whimpered, turning back to her boyfriend.

"Don't understand what?"

She didn't answer. She shifted through the papers on the floor, handing them to him. "Everything I found, a lot of it wasn't matching up with what A.C. told me about her. He said they were partners, he's not even mentioned in there. And then I figured it out."

"Figured what out?"

"Coulson's my father." Grant blinked. Of all the things she was upset about, that wasn't what he was expecting. However, it explained the way she was acting. "And I think May knows. That's why she wanted me to stop pursuing it." Skye dropped to the bed. "If he didn't want me, he should have just said so. I get that I'm a mess. I'm insecure, I'm whiny, I talk too much, I stick my nose into places where it doesn't belong, and sometimes I can be a real bitch, but I could have handled knowing. What I can't handle is being fucking lied to right to my fucking face!" she yelled suddenly, her anger spiking. "Right into my face. 'Oh, I didn't know she had a daughter, even though you look just like her in every picture I have,'" she mocked her father.

Grant touched her arm and she collapsed into his arms, crying suddenly. He was getting whiplash from her emotions going back and forth.

"Why didn't he want me?"

He felt helpless, watching her hurt and he wished he knew how to take her pain away, the way she knew how. It seemed he'd have to settle for the good old-fashioned human way. "Hey, hey, none of that. You're perfect the way you are. If he didn't want you, that was his loss."

Skye leaned up, kissing him. "You're amazing."

He kissed her again. She pushed her hands under his shirt, tanning her fingers running up his hard abs. He pushed her against the bed and her emotions stayed the same the rest of the night.

* * *

Skye snuck away the next morning. Somehow she didn't think Grant would want to take place in a little early morning B&E or would want to steal from a superior officer's desk. She'd never been a master thief, but she was decent at lock picking, courtesy of a delinquent childhood. So it was with ease that she slipped through the previously locked office door and went to work at his desk, opening every drawer and digging through it. There was a false bottom and journal underneath it. She touched it and her mother's memory came to her. She gasped as images flashed into her mind, including Raina, dressed in an awful flower dress. A photo fluttered out of a folder and she recognized it as her mother with another woman who looked like her. She flipped it over. In scrawled handwriting, there were names on the back.

" _Katharina and Theresa Siegel. 1987. To my darling S.O. I know you stare at my sister's ass when I'm not looking. Quit your wandering eyes, love, or that makes pretty boy archer fair game for me. 3 Rina"_

 _Well_ , Skye thought,  _guess he didn't lie about one thing. That does sound like the kind of thing I might say._

In the folder the picture had fallen out of, there was a birth certificate.

" _Gabriele Christine Siegel-Coulson. DOB: April 7, 1989. POB: Portland, Oregon. Mother: Katharina Siegel. Father: Phillip Coulson."_

And now she had proof that he was her father. She gathered those things up, as well as the journal, and headed back to her bunk, arms full of information.

"Where'd you go?" Grant muttered sleepily. It was unusual to see him so tired.

"I figured I didn't want to force you to break laws for me this morning."

He sat up, looking at the time. "It's only three in the morning. You've already hacked into SHIELD's servers to get the-"

"What?" she interrupted, "No. I just was doing the low-tech version of data collecting." At his odd lock, she added, "B&E with a side of stealing classified and not so classified files." She tossed her armful onto a shelf. "I figured there was less of a chance of Miss Stick-Up-Her-A- walking in on me at three in the morning and yelling at me again about how finding my parents isn't you guys' mission and all."

He rolled his eyes, reaching out to her. "Come back to bed." She let him pull her towards him, ogling the way the sheet fell over his impressive physique. He reminded her of a statue or a painting from a long time ago. "That's not fair. You're too dressed."

Reaching down, she stripped her shirt over her head, letting it fall to the floor. "Better?" she teased and he growled slightly under his breath. She giggled as he pulled the rest of her clothes from her body, leaving them both even.

"Much better," he decided.

* * *

It was two very long days later. Grant had been helping Skye go through every inch of the paperwork she had stolen from Coulson's desk. She'd read the journal twice, looking for something, anything that would help them. She just needed to find something, that footnote on one of the pages that'd make everything make sense.

"This is getting ridiculous," Jemma said, coming into Skye's bunk. "Why couldn't they have just written straight out who they were, what they want? Why did they need to be so cryptic? And what was with the dead clones where we found you guys, of that lady, Raina, and Po? And do you really think that these guys from Centipede are the same ones that killed your mother?"

"Yes." Skye looked up at the scientist. "I touched her journal and I saw Raina and Po. They're the same people."

"Then we'll find them."

She looked back down at her computer screen. She was going to find her father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you guys think? Skye knows and Coulson can't even comfort her or apologize. I might be going on a short break from this one to write the 12 Days of Christmas prompt by ashes and cinders. That will be set in this universe and will be appearing around Dec. 13th.


	11. When Skye is Angry (a.k.a. Chapter 11, Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, don't shoot. This is chapter a bit on the short side of things because it's been sitting on my computer way too long. I've been so swamped with all this writing for school that I haven't even been able to get to any extra curricular writing. And when you add in the add in the school news mocks me daily: "Call for Fiction and Poetry Submissions. Our fiction and poetry editors have just been kind of looking at each other, twiddling their thumbs, and wondering where all the writers and poets are," you know I've become the worse person to live with. I keep wanting to yell at them, "I'm right here, dammit, if you'd just stop giving me all of this freaking work for ten minutes!"
> 
> However, when SHIELD came back on and Skye lived, I knew I just had to get this piece out if nothing else. For Skye! And on the bright side of things, I kept a boyfriend for Valentine's Day! Yay for that. We broke up the week before, got back together the day before, and broke up again yesterday and got back together this morning. Living with someone kills relationships. Enough said.

When Skye is Angry (a.k.a. Chapter 11, Part 1):

She paced the living room for the thousandth time while he was trying to read his book. He'd all but given up, considering Skye hadn't stopped pacing since he walked in.

"If you have all that energy, you should really do some pull ups and push ups."

She paused for a second to glare at him, then resumed. Grant gave up, setting the book aside to stand up to restrain her. "Let go."

"No. We'll find them, Skye, but pacing back and forth is going to accomplish nothing."

She looked at them, stopping for a moment. "That's not why I'm upset, Grant."

"Well why are you upset then? You wanted the truth."

She nodded, "Right. 'And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.'" Skye sat down next to him, "I think they missed the part where it should have said the truth hurts." Grant chuckled. "I'm glad my pain is funny."

"It's ironic. You were all about the truth when you got here-"

"I never said I liked what it did. I wanted the truth." The plane angled downward. "We're landing. Why are we landing?"

She could feel his uncertainty washing over her as he started to stand up. "I'm not sure."

* * *

Skye sat in her bunk, getting ready to trace the money trail when her screen froze up with the SHIELD logo. The door opened not two minutes later and all she could feel was disapproval. "Just in time. Can you override this?"

"What do you think you're doing?" Hand demanded.

"The money trails are key to finding Coulson. I just need to gain access to Vanchat's financials, and from there I should be able to trace Centipede's payments and then hack into their account."

"You're the consultant. The one who shot Agent Sitwell."

"Technically that wasn't me."

"I want you off this plane immediately."

"What?" Ward asked as Hand walked away.

"Wait," Skye called after her, running out of her bunk. "I know I'm not some badass field agent like May or Ward, but this is what I do. You can't just kick me off this mission." She took a breath, "Listen, I'll do whatever you say. All this protocol crap doesn't matter to me. All that matters to me is Coulson."

"Well, all this protocol crap matters to me. You're a distraction and you're gone." The woman turned to leave as Skye's anger rose.

"Agent Hand, I know Skye's methods are unorthodox, but she's a member of this team. She can help."

"You're just saying that because you're in love with her. You've been emotionally compromised by her, Agent Ward." She turned to the Oriental woman, "Agent May, your professional opinion. Will this girl be of any use to us on this plane?"

"No."

Hand turned to two guys behind her. "Increase her restriction level. Confiscate her laptop and phone. Then deliver her to debrief."

"I'll do it," Ward told her, "I'm her S.O." Hand nodded and left them.

For a brief second, he wondered if Skye might lose control, if she'd kill May then and there. He didn't need to give Hand another reason for her to try to take Skye away for good, so he tugged on her arm and she followed him.

"It's clear May has an axe to grind with me, but that was way out of line."

"No one knows what's in May's head except May. Don't worry, Coulson will make this right when he get's back."

"I can find him, Ward."

"I believe you. I've seen first hand what you can do, even without SHIELD resources." His fingers laced through her hair as he brought her close and kissed her hard on the mouth. "You'll find him." She nodded her head, looking up at him for a moment before she yanked him into the closest closet. "Skye, wha-"

"There's something you need to know, about the link. It'll hurt physically when we're apart, but you can't let them know, otherwise they'll try to break it." He nodded.

"I'll be fine. Be safe." Skye looked into Ward's eyes and could see how dead serious he was. She nodded and left the closet.

Skye walked to the edge of the cargo hold after a goodbye from FitzSimmons, ready to get out, when a voice stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going?" May asked, appearing in front of Skye as the girl went to leave the plane.

"Not that you care, but I'm going to go find my father, you know, the man whose secret you've been keeping."

Energy crackled in the air and May shifted uncomfortably, her mask never breaking. "I care about Coulson," she told Skye.

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"I just think he'd like to come back and his daughter wasn't dead."

"Move out of my way, Agent May."

The other woman stood there for a moment and Skye thought she'd show resistance, but then she moved over and allowed her to leave. An agent was leaning over the cherry red Corvette in the cargo hold as she pass and snapped, "Don't touch Lola."

She was gone from the plane in the next second. May watched with a frown on her face before she turned away. Once she was in the cockpit, she smirked proudly.


	12. When the Truth Comes Out (a.k.a. Chapter 11, Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which May is all powerful, all knowing, and just plain awesome (and awesome with a plane).

When the Truth Comes Out (a.k.a. Chapter 11, Part 2)

Ward dropped his head into his hands. Skye had been under exaggerating when she said the distance would physically hurt them. He felt like someone was trying to yank at his head and his brain kept screaming at him to follow her. He had stumbled into his bunk and had locked the door behind him. 

“Are you alright?”

May was standing in the doorway. How was she standing in the doorway? He had locked the door.

“I just haven’t had a lot of sleep.”

“You should sleep then.”

“I’ll sleep when we get Coulson back.”

May eyed him and he felt uncomfortable.

“I know a little something about empathetic connections. Get some sleep and you’ll feel better.”

The door slide shut behind her. Ward sat up straight. How had May known? He hadn’t thought he’d let anything slip and Skye surely wouldn’t say anything.

* * *

His screams alerted her to where he was. Relief flooded her when she saw him. She had found him.

“It’s for his own good,” Raina tried to explain, blocking her.

Skye wouldn’t listen. She punched Raina hard enough to knock her out.

“Please let me die. Please let me die. Please… let me die.”

She touched the machine, trying to shut it off as May walked in. The older woman pulled the power as Skye knelt to grab her father’s hand as he continued to beg to let him die.

“Coulson,” she whispered. Her heart stopped when he didn’t respond to her. “Dad, come back, come back.”

His face was screwed up in pain. Slowly, he came back to them. “Skye,” he whispered and tears came to her eyes. He’d be okay. “Skye… Skye.”

She held his hand, leaning her cheek to it. In that moment, she didn’t care that he had lied to her. She was just glad that they had found him.

* * *

Skye found herself seeking comfort in Ward’s arms that night. She stood in the doorway of his bunk as he read out of a book. Sensing her presence, he looked up. 

“Nice outfit. Who are you supposed to be?”

Skye smiled sheepishly. “I kind of, sort of _impersonatedMayasaSHIELDagent.”_

Ward snorted and set the book down, opening his arms up to her. She ran to him, curling up next to him on the bed. Suddenly, all the stress that she’d felt all day melted away.

“You going to be okay?”

Skye sniffled, clutching his t-shirt as she shook her head. Grant’s hand weaved its way into her hair as he kissed the top of her head.

“He was begging to die.” 

The tears flowed freely and all Ward could do was hold her and mutter how much he loved her and how brave she was to do what she had done and how glad he was that she was safe. Eventually, her sobs subsided. 

She touched the bruise on his arm once she cried out all of her tears. “You were hurt.”

“It’s no big deal. It was a small price to pay. We got Coulson back. We won.”

“The Clairvoyant is still out there,” she reminded him. He kissed her hard.

“But this time, we’ll be ready for him.”

She kissed him again, muttering how much she loved him. She lay in his arms until he fell asleep, then she stood, quietly moving from the room. She had some unfinished business to take care off.

* * *

Skye found her father in his office, looking at papers. She didn’t speak, didn’t give any indication that she was there, and yet he knew. “You know.”

“Why did you never tell me?” She hated how broken her voice sounded. When she imaged confronting him about it, she wanted to be angry with him. However, all she could feel like was the little girl in foster care who was constantly get sent back to St. Agnes.

“I didn’t know how to.” Coulson looked at her, his eyes sad. “I’m sorry, Skye.”

“Didn’t you want me?” she wanted to ask, but she couldn’t. The words were stuck in her throat.

He father stepped forward instead, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I’m so sorry,” he muttered over and over. “I wish I had know what Rina had done at the time. I would have never let you suffer like that if I had known. And then I saw you in that interrogation room and it was so surreal. It was like looking at your mother. I didn’t want to say anything until I was sure you were mine and then you started looking for answers and I didn’t have any and I-”

“It’s okay, Dad,” she whispered into his shoulder, tearing up again, “I’m okay.”

“I wish I had known.”

“We can’t change the past.”

“I’m so proud of you, Skye,” he told her, “I just want you to know that. May filled me in on what happened.”

She muttered something into his shoulder that sounded vaguely like, “May is evil.”

“She’s not evil. She just knew you could do better work off this plane without Hand looking over your shoulder than you could here. Victoria has it out for you.”

“Yeah, well, I came pretty close to killing her and May so-”

Coulson chuckled and kissed his daughter’s forehead. She was so much like her mother that it was clear that nature had a lot more to do with Skye’s personality than nurture did.

“Do you want to meet your aunt?” he finally asked her, several hours later while they talked. She frowned for a minute and for a moment, he thought she might say no. Then, she nodded and he smiled at her.

“I’m going to go get some sleep. Night, Dad.”

“Good night, Skye,” he told her ask she headed back to Ward’s bunk.

May emerged from the shadows of the office. “That was sweet.”

He turned on her, a storm brewing in his eyes and voice. “Did you tell her?”

“No. I didn’t have to. She already knew.” May turned to leave. “After all, she is her father’s daughter.”


	13. When Skye is Happy or Epilogue

When Skye is Happy (also known as the Epilogue):

Skye looked off at the sunset from the cargo door of the plane. Everyone was too busy rushing around to bother with her too much. She used her time to enjoy the peace and quiet.

Ever since Coulson found out that she knew that he knew that he was her father, he had Ward kick up her training. He had told her he wasn't going to lose his little girl to people like Raina's organization and the Clairvoyant, who wanted her to experiment on. Ward had agreed with Coulson, much to her disappointment.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Hmm?" Skye glanced up at Ward, Jemma, and Fitz, who were all standing behind her. "Oh, nothing. Just… I'm happy." She grinned really big at them all.

FitzSimmons smiled back at her. "It has been nice and quiet lately, hasn't it?" Simmons shrugged, "Well, back to work for me. Fitz, you coming?"

The Scot followed after her like a puppy. Ward gave a rare chuckle and sat down beside her. Without a word, she snuggled closer to him, their fingers intertwining. He kissed the top of her head, letting her tilt her head back to capture her lips. Things were good and Jemma was right. Things were quiet.

Little did she know, things wouldn't be quiet for long.

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the deal. I don't know if I can write a sequel for the Locket at this time because with the direction the show has taken, I don't want this story to take the same direction. In this story, I never planned on (*spoilers*) Ward being a genuine bad guy. Therefore, I'm ending this here and maybe at some unspecified date in the hopefully near future, they will redeem Ward on the show. Until then, it's been a fun trip. I might do some prequels for the Locketverse so look for those in the future.
> 
> Thank you to all the loyal readers. And that you everyone for your reviews. They were very encouraging.


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